Weston, Weston:

Unbelievably, you are seven! I'm not quite sure where the last year went, but I do know it has been fun watching you learn and grow. You are maturing in many ways, and Dad and I are so very proud of you!  

You have (to my Aggie chagrin) become obsessed with the University of Texas this year. You wear the burnt orange with pride, and you follow the football team with rapt attention. Dad and I gave you tickets to a game for your birthday, and it may have been the best day of your life, so far. In the absence of a UT game to watch, you will watch most any football game, on TV or live. You love to keep up with the stats and rankings of high school teams, college teams and pro teams. You got your first taste of playing on a football team this fall, when you played flag football for Marble Falls. Your plan for the future now includes playing football for UT and then moving on to play for the Green Bay Packers or the Dallas Cowboys. Football has ignited a passion inside you that we have not seen before, and it is so fun to to watch you embrace that. 

Dad and I gave you a watch for your birthday last year, and you wore it every single day until it fell apart. So, we gave you another watch this year, because you really like to keep a schedule. You like to know what time things are happening and when they are supposed to happen. And you like to keep us all on track. You are also always noticing interesting things about the time, like if the numbers add up or can be the same forward or backward. This tickles you to no end. 

You and Max are big buddies and have so many adventures together. I love to watch you two, and I appreciate what a wonderful big brother you are, not only to Max, but also to Clay. You are sweet and kind and gentle, when appropriate, but you also have a rough-and-tumble side. You appreciate beautiful things, but you are happiest when you are filthy dirty. You are sensitive but strong, which makes you a very special person indeed. 

You love to play games, and your favorites are Forty-Two, War, Crazy Eights and Parcheesi. You also really enjoy the Angry Birds video games and are quite good at them. 

You are a whiz at memorizing things, which has really been helpful this year in CC. You continue to amaze us with your mathematical abilities, and you are also a really strong reader, though you aren't usually inclined to spend your free time reading. You have been enjoying the Amelia Bedelia and Wind in the Willows books recently, and you also like reading biographies and other non-fiction books, as well. And, you can often be found reading books to your younger brothers. You are a very smart boy, and your mind is always working away. 

Food is still a great passion for you. You love to think about it, and talk about it, and cook it and eat it. You like to eat at home or go out. You love Long John Silvers and Chicken Express. You are also fond of Italian food. At home, your favorites are Impossible Cheeseburger Pie and John Wayne Casserole. You are able to out-eat me at almost every meal, and I often wonder how it will be when you are a teenager. Even when I double and triple recipes, I find that food doesn't last too long around our house. 

Weston, you are an absolute delight, and I feel so fortunate to have the opportunity to be your mom! You have a big body and an even bigger heart. I hope that this next year holds many blessings for you and that you continue to develop into a quality young man. I love you "too much," as you would say. Happy Seventh Birthday!

Love,

Mom